last Hope

Back To School

Lily 

    The next morning we all get up bright and early for school, looking and feeling like hell of course. Luca and I have never been morning people, so when you put us together that early in the morning. Well, let’s just say it’s not a pretty sight. Or experience. 

    I can hardly ever wake up to alarms, and today is no exception. I really did not want to get out of bed, so Luca took it upon himself and ended up ripping the soft, warm, inviting comforters away from me. He then proceeded to drag me out of bed with a loud thud and into the bathroom to get ready. I scowl at him as we brush our teeth, but he just ignores me. I know he had just as hard a time getting out of bed as me, but he didn’t have to drag me out of bed like that. 

Jerk, I think to myself as I continue to glare at him. 

    When I come back out into the room I go into the huge walk-in closet to find some clothes to wear. I end up wearing some boot-cut jeans and steal one of Luca’s hoodies. It’s way too big on me, but that’s what I like about it. Luca comes back into the room after doing whatever it was he had to do and goes into the closet to grab a random black T-shirt and some worn blue jeans. 

Once we’re done getting dressed I go down stairs to check if the boys are up yet. They are of course and are getting ready. They have been much better when it comes to getting up in the morning than me since we were little, but they never seemed to mind getting me up in the morning. Probably because they know I’ll make them breakfast. 

‘Little bastards.’ Molly suddenly speaks up out of nowhere. 

‘Why are you in such a rotten mood?’ She softly growls. Whether or not it’s directed towards me I’m not really sure on. 

‘It’s too early to be up, and I do not want to deal with idiotic, moody teenagers.’ 

‘Can’t argue with that. Just try to stay calm so I can get through my first day though. Please?’ I don’t hear a response. 

    ‘Molly?’

    ‘Fine. I’ll do it for you and Luca.’

    ‘Thank you.’ She rolls her eyes and retreats to the back of my mind as I start to make breakfast for the boys. I haven't really been a breakfast eater in a long time, so I don’t make anything for myself. 

    Right then, I feel Luca slither his arms around my waist and rest his head in the crook of my neck. 

“Can we go back to bed and do this another day?” He whines a little as he asks this, sleep evident in his voice. 

I smile a little to myself at his silliness. 

“As appealing as that sounds. We need to get back to trying to have a normal life. And besides, you were the one that dragged me out of bed in the first place.” He groans softly as he starts to doze off while he is still leaning against me. 

 “Luca, do you want some food?” At the mention of food, he perks up a bit and kisses my cheek before going and sitting on one of the cushioned bar stools at the big marble top island. 

At that moment the boys come into the kitchen and take the seats on either side of Luca. I stack three plates full with pancakes, eggs, sausage, and some fruit and top it all with maple syrup. They all seem to perk up at the sight of the food and dig in as soon as I set the plates down. 

Damn males eat everything in sight, I think to myself laughing a little at the three boys. 

After a minute, Luca realizes I hadn’t gotten any food for myself. 

“Why aren’t you eating?” He looks a little worried as he questions me. 

“I’m just not hungry.” I answer simply as I continue to sip on my tea. 

    Andrew speaks up and Luca looks at him as he speaks. “From what I remember, Lily hasn’t eaten breakfast with us in a long time. She's always just made it and drinks her tea while we eat.” 

    Daniel speaks up not long after. “She stopped eating with us a couple of years after we left the pack.” 

    “Lily, baby, you should eat. You’re too skinny to be skipping meals.” He has worry showing through in his dark blue eyes as he says this and the sight constricts my heart. 

Why does he have to do that? It's not fair. 

I actually stopped eating breakfast because I thought I was fat, and honestly, I still do. I thought that was why no one wanted to be around me, which wasn’t and isn’t exactly true, but it was and still is enough to make a difference. 

“I’m fine. I don’t need to eat.” Luca doesn’t seem to be happy with that answer, so I quickly speak up again before he gets the chance to. 

“We need to get going soon. Hurry up and finish your food.” Luca is hesitant to keep eating as he continues to stare at me for a few more seconds, but finishes anyway. 

-

Once they are all done eating, I take their plates and put them in the sink to wash. When I start to rinse them off to put in the dishwasher, Luca comes up behind me once more and wraps his arms around my waist like before. His warmth surrounds me and makes me feel safe like always. I lean into him and he starts to talk softly in my ear. 

“Lily, I’m sorry for making it a big deal, but it’s really not healthy for you to skip meals.” He’s so sweet to care, but I’m really fine. I haven’t eaten breakfast in a long time so now it’s just normal for me to not eat in the morning very often. I usually end up feeling sick when I do anyways.

I turn around in his arms and take his face in my hands. “I know you're worried, and I love you for caring. But I’m fine. I promise. I hardly ever eat in the morning so it’s normal for me.” 

He still doesn’t look convinced but seems to let it go. Or at least for now anyways. 

“OK, I’ll let it go for today. But I’m going to keep bugging you about it until you start to eat at least a little bit in the morning.” I roll my eyes at him, but answer him honestly anyways. 

“OK, I’ll try eating with you guys tomorrow morning.” He gives me a weird look. 

“Promise?” 

Oh my gosh. This boy, I think to myself. 

I laugh a little as I answer him. “Promise.” 

 He seems to be content with the compromise and smiles as he captures my lips in his. 

“Uh, guys?” Daniel and Andrew are watching us awkwardly as they try to get our attention. 

“We need to get going soon, so do you think you can do this later or something?” You can see how uncomfortable they are, so being the sister that I am. I try to make it worse. 

I give Luca a look and he knows exactly what to do. We look deep into each other's eyes and start to say lovey-dovey stuff to each other that make the boys cringe away in disgust. Luca and I start to die in a fit of laughter at the sight of them. 

Once we’ve calmed down Luca and I finally finish getting our stuff together, tears still in our eyes from laughing so hard. The boys weren’t exactly laughing though. If looks could kill, I tell ya. 

Anyways, once we drop Andrew off at the middle school and get his things sorted out we go on our way to the high school. Once we get there, I'm amazed by the sheer size of it. It’s huge. There are about three different buildings and they all have at least two floors. 

There are several groups of students littering the parking lot when we show up through the front gates, and most of them stare at Luca’s car as we continue to his spot close to the school. The school is on neutral territory so there are members from a few different packs that go to this school as well as some of the more behaved rouges. 

When we get to his parking spot a group of boys, along with a couple of girls that are hanging off two of the boys’ arms, show up all of a sudden. Probably their mates, I think noticing the marks close to their collarbones. I notice immediately that they are all werewolves from Luca’s pack. As their next Alpha it’s only natural that they would follow him around. 

Luca introduces me to the group and I find out that they are mostly higher ranked members of the pack. One of the males is his future Beta, Max, and another is his third, Justin. They are the ones with the girls latched onto their arms, and it turns out they really are mates. Max’s mate being named Jasmine, and Justin’s being named Heather. 

When Luca tells them that I am his mate, and their future Luna, they all lightly bow their heads. I freak out a bit, not being accustomed to this kind of behavior, and try to get them to stop. 

“No, please don’t do that. There's no need to be so formal with me. I’m really not that important of a person.” Their eyes widen when I say this and they all seem to look over my shoulder at something. Or rather, someone. When I turn around I find Luca and see him looking a bit mad at what I just said. 

“They are showing you the respect you deserve. You are their future Luna which means they will be looking to you for guidance and protection just as much as they will be looking to me.” I back away from him a little when I see that his wolf is starting to show through. 

When he sees that I’m backing away from him he pulls me closer once again and talks into my ear with a softer voice. “I’m sorry baby, but you need to understand how important your position is.” 

I respond with a hushed voice into his ear. “I know, I’m just not used to people acting like that with me. I don’t like to be the center of attention.” 

“I know Lily, and I’m sorry, but you’ll have to get used to it being the next Luna of the pack.” I nod to him and he pulls away. However, he keeps his arm draped around my waist to keep me close to his side. 

He continues to talk to his pack mates for a few more minutes before he takes me and Daniel to the school’s office to check in and get our schedules. Luca and I got lucky, we have most of the same classes together. First period, History. Second, Algebra 2. Third, Drawing. Fourth, English. And last is Science. The two we don’t have together Luca says I’ll have with Heather and/or Jasmine. 

Molly speaks up. ‘They seemed nice when we met them earlier, I’m sure it will be OK.’

‘I hope so,’ I say in response. 

First period is History. Luca and I have it together, so I’m not worried. Or at least I wasn’t until the teacher made me introduce myself to the class. Luckily it ended without incident, and I continued on with my day. Second period, Algebra 2. This class I have with Heather. 

Throughout the class, Heather is very friendly and tries really hard to help me. However, she really isn’t that good when it comes to math related classes, so I end up helping her instead. We start to grow a little closer before the bell rings and we have to go to our next class. 

Third period, Drawing. This class I have with Luca, Max, Justin, Jasmine, and Heather. We get a project at the start of class and I’m really excited for it. Luca seems to be pretty excited for it as well. However, the others act like it’s going to be the hardest thing to do in the world. 

Luca and I have always been really into art and drawing, since we were really little. I especially got into it after we moved. It was my escape and something I could get lost in for hours without even realising it. The assignment is to use as many mediums, or materials, as possible to create a picture that has at least one supernatural creature or animal and a background. I, of course, am going to draw a wolf and do a night scene for the background. 

I’m going to need to start with the background. It’s going to be a beach bathed in moonlight with the moon high in the sky. I’m going to use watercolor and acrylic paint along with ink to complete and give texture to it. Then, for the main part. The wolf. I’m going to do a running pair that are blackened out in ink with faint paw/footprints in the sand behind them. I may actually do the wolves in color, but I’m not sure yet. 

As I start to sketch out the base a bit, I look over at Luca to find him starting on his sketch as well. 

“What are you going to do?” I ask out of curiosity. 

He looks over at me and smiles mischievously. “You’ll see.”

I pout at him. “Fine, then I’m not telling you what I’m doing.” 

“Fine.” He turns away again, a small smile still on his face. 

Next was lunch. We all went and got some of the gross looking, smelling, and tasting cafeteria food. I didn’t really eat much of it and Luca scolded me in front of everyone. Again! It was so embarrassing and everyone just sat there and laughed at him for worrying so much. My next period was English. This class I have with Luca and Max. And it was a nightmare. 

I’ve never been too good in English, and these two were not helping. They were fidgeting and distracting me the whole time. Now, you would think that they would be failing the class, but in fact they are both passing in the A range. 

“Stupid boys.” I thought to myself. Or at least I thought I did. 

“I heard that.” Luca responds to me and I turn to look at him, giving him a sheepish smile before I turn back around. 

Guess I said that out loud. Whoops. Molly just laughs at me as I get back to work and try to ignore the boys. 

Anyways, after English I had Science with Heather and Jasmine. Science has always been my weakest subject, so it went OK. Luckily Heather and Jasmine are pretty good when it comes to Science, so they actually helped me quite a bit when it came to understanding what the teacher was telling us. Once school finally gets out, we go to pick up Andrew at the middle school. Then proceed home.